Obama: I’m glad the Senator McCain brought up the bipartisan history of us engaging in direct diplomacy. Senator McCain mentioned Henry Kissinger who is one of his advisors who along with 5 Secretaries of State just said that we should meet with Iran; Guess what? He said without preconditions. This is one of your own advisers…

McCain: Look. Dr. Kissinger did not say that he would approve a face to face meeting between the President of the United States and Ahmadinejad. he did not say that…This is dangerous. This isn’t just naive… By the way, Dr. Kissinger who has been my friend for 35 years would be interested to hear Senator Obama’s depiction on the issue. I’ve known him for 35 years… And, Senator Obama is parsing words when he says “preconditions” means “preparations.”

UPDATE: Henry Kissinger is “upset” with Obama for distorting his views!

You can’t write this stuff. I thought the debate was extremely revealing. Was it on the edge of your chair exciting? No. But oh just to watch this boy being schooled was worth watching it twice. Heck I may watch it again just to comfort myself that there are sane people left on earth. And the gaffs are icing on the cake. O needs to just quit now while ahead and return the millions to the folk he is so worried about.

If I can’t understand what’s tactic and what’s strategy, it’s still alright as a poorly read nobody. But for that pretender to not understand the difference is sheer inexcusable ignorance. Truly an empty suit!

After watching the candidate’s debate last night, it became apparent that Obama would be better to play the President in a movie, but McCain is the man who can actually do the job. Obama is like a movie set. He looks good, but behind the facade, there’s nothing there. When you have no track record, like Obama, all you can do is criticize and attack America … whereas McCain, who has actually contributed to this country for decades obviously loves America … whereas Obama seems to be in this for personal ambition.

I did not watch the debate in its entirety but what I did watch tells me one thing. Obama is not ready to lead. This is a man who has been fabricated by the media and by his far left supporters. I do not believe that the democrats of long ago believe in this man. Some will be voting for Obama just because they are staunch democrats. I do not call myself a republican or a democrat. I am a conservative who believes in the many principals that Reagan set forth. The bottom line is this: We cannot afford Obama. If we think the economy is bad now, wait until he imposes his liberal tax increases! My family budgets and when our checking account gets low, we cut back. Obama is missing a fundamental principal. YOU CAN’T SPEND WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE!! He says he wants to improve education by pouring more money into it. IT’S ALREADY FAT! Some systems have been given more money yet we don’t see any change. Those of you who back Obama, WAKE UP!

My biggest problem with the debate was the question about what the two would cut, considering the economic crises. McCain said stop all spending except the war and entitlement programs. Obama bumbled around and never came up with ANYTHING that he would cut. That’s a huge problem, considering he keeps promising the world to the poor American people who are so hurt by the crises.

Not only did Barry get smoked in the 1st debate, he also managed to act like a child the entire time. If he wasn’t interrupting john he was making grunting noises or pointing his finger at the moderator. Barry has shown us that not only does he lack experience but also couth.

I’ll come clean first & say that I’m leaning pretty strongly toward Obama, but I was disappointed that he didn’t say anything new, or particularly interesting, in response to the questions. Standard cautious politics.

I read the “gaffe” in the first video as Obama looking hard at his bracelet to be sure to get the name exactly right, feeling a little pressure like “Oh shit I better get this right” then choking on his own concern about getting it right. First real nervous moment from the tall dark-skinned guy in this debate.

But c’mon, McCain always sounds like that (not all that smooth-talking which is forgivable – try saying Ahmedinajad three times fast). And he also looked at the name on his bracelet to get it right.

So I call that one a wash.

The second one is blatant quote mining. I think it says less about Obama’s leadership ability and more about McCain’s willingness to jump on any perceptible weakness in his opponent. I’m surprised a candidate with such credentials needs to stoop that low. This impresses you? Why?

Third video? Your analysis is spot on. Definitely cringe-worthy. You really want your politicians to have their data right, and this doesn’t look good at all. Yuk.

Fourth video. Strategy vs. tactic is just semantic bickering will be lost on too much of the audience. I point the finger at McCain for pulling out the fallacious “don’t let all these deaths be in vain” argument. Previous sacrifices do not obligate later sacrifices. We have to decide what’s right based on the present conditions, and our predictions for the future. Period. The sacrifices of now-dead soldiers are moot.

They’re dead. It’s tragic. What do we do now?

I call it about even on the question of whether to use timetables/ get out fast vs. stay & finish the mission in Iraq. Not enough data available.

People see & hear what they want to see & hear. These video bites don’t show the McCain that was too intimidated to look into Obama’s eyes. They also don’t show the McCain that nearly lost his composure several times when a sharp & poised Obama showed him up for the old, out of touch, coot that he is. Obama is the love child of Martin Luther King & John F. Kennedy & just like in Kennedy’s day we are watching the torch being passed to a new generation of Americans.

Right, McCain, who even a lot of conservatives worry is too temperamental to play the President, and is clearly also too unhealthy to play the president, and whose “message” on both the foreign policy is constantly contradicting itself — between McCain’s messages, Palin’s, Kissinger’s and others on Iran, McCain’s confused plan for the economy, and his inability to clearly get a message across at the debates, right, he’s much more qualified to lead us out of this mess we’re in. The nonsense that Obama is all sheen, no substance is almost beneath responding to, but I will anyway– I’ve read his plan, I’ve seen him speak, I’ve seen him in action, I’ve seen the respect he commands — is he flawless? No. Is he perfect, is he the Savior? Clearly, no. And some of the points in the main post above are fair about his flaws in the debate, but to overlook McCain’s very clear flaws seems a bit hypocritical. And the idea that Obama’s all flash is laughable; some of the responses here about McCain are much more lacking in substance. McCain is starting to scare even conservatives — see George Will’s recent pieces on him, for instance. I don’t know if it’s because Obama is of mixed race, or young, or just because a lot of people are responding to his message, but the lack of dignity and honesty about him in some of the comments above are appalling. Unlike McCain he actually has shown the ability to work with people to get things done, the willingness to listen without steam coming out of his ears (McCain can’t even look people in the eyes when debating or speaking), and unlike McCain Obama literally understands what it means to be middle class and struggling. McCain can’t even relate to us. Good luck trying to convince America that McCain is the one to lead us out of this morass.

The contrast between McCain and Obama is stark. The man who stayed in the horrors of Hanoi as a matter of honor faces the man who has never met an honor that he understood. The man who would rather lose an election than have his country lose a war faces the man who would watch amused as his countrymen descend into economic terror provided that his calculated neglect won him a few national percentage points.

The contrast between the vice presidential choices of McCain and Obama is just as stark. The woman who took on her own political party and who gave birth to a son with Down syndrome, because she believed abortion was wrong, faces a man who plagiarized in law school (so he could get his degree), who copied the speeches of Neil Kinnock (so he could win votes), and who seems to have never met an honorable sacrifice worth embracing.

Obama claimed that having doctors help a baby born alive after a botched abortion would be a burden. At the time he was arguing against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act at the Illinois state legislature April 2002.